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THE JUDGE, An Untrue Tale by Harve Zemach Kirkus Star

THE JUDGE, An Untrue Tale

By

Pub Date: Nov. 21st, 1969
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

One after another, the prisoners are brought before the judge, crying ""A horrible thing is coming this way./ Creeping closer day by day./ Its eyes are scary/ Its tail is hairy/ I tell you, Judge, we all better pray!"" And one by one each is condemned as a liar, a half-wit, a scoundrel, a nincompoop. . . until talking ceases and justice is done: a ""horrible thing"" looks in the window, comes in the door, snaps up the judge. . . and gives the prisoners the freedom of the last page. The wordless resolution is a savvy use of Sendak, the text is a self-?propellant that kids will say in unison, the pictures bristle and tremble with the protagonists--it couldn't be more assured or sure to succeed.